


We walk this bloodied path together

by Talesofwovensilver



Category: Naruto
Genre: A lot - Freeform, ANBU - Freeform, AU, Also Rua likes to accidentally collect little minions, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Tsume, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Team Jiraiya), Hinata and Neji's too, Hizashi - Freeform, Hyuuga Hizashi Lives, I made up Ino and Choji's mothers btw, Ino-Shika-Cho, Kakashi has people that love him, Major Original Character (Murakami Rua), Minato has a best friend, Minor Original Character(s), Namikaze Minato Lives, No Uchiha Massacre, OOC characters, Original Character-centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Rua (Main OC), Team Jiraiya: now consisting of:, Team as Family, also discarded the original team Jiraiya, cus I can, kind of Kushina bashing, minato - Freeform, new team jiraiya, no offence to her, using japanese honorifics, we love Tsume here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-06-27 21:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15693363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talesofwovensilver/pseuds/Talesofwovensilver
Summary: Namikaze Minato grew up in the orphanage alongside Murakami Rua. Together they go through life side by side kicking ass and making both friends and enemies.(Not gonna lie, this is predominantly a fix it fic, but not in a perfect world kind of way)





	1. 5 - the academy

**Author's Note:**

> I've added the more dominant characters in the summary, even if they don't appear till later in the story, that's a guarantee they will, and I'll add the rest as I post the chapters they appear in or slightly before they appear
> 
> Additionally the chapter titles are their ages at the beginning of the chapter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-genin insight into Minato and Rua as kiddies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Minato's perspective - that is just to introduce Rua from a known characters perspective to show you all how she fits into the story (if it wasn't already obvious from the tags, tbh they are confusing), the rest will predominantly be from Rua's pov. Though in third person.

That day the energy was high as young children of varying ages either returned to school or set their first foot inside the academy.

You could tell who the new students were. Many still clutched their father’s hands or their mother’s skirts. Some looked scared, but just as many appeared excited.

As the bell rang the older students left to go to their classrooms and the younger ones were herded to stand around two chūnin teachers who spoke to them and their parents.

“This is your first day at the shinobi academy. You will be split into two groups, which you will stay in for the remainder of your time at the academy. Myself and my colleague will call out your name and you will go to us, and we will be your senseis for the rest of your school career. My name is Iori Roku. You can call me Roku Sensei, and this is Komori Tatsui.”

“You can call me Tatsui Sensei.” The younger looking teacher nodded and gave them all a smile.

Minato turned to the girl next to him. Their hands were clasped together, and Rua was already returning his look. He smiled reassuringly at her and she smiled back. They were both thinking the same thing. That they wouldn’t get separated.

“Once you are separated into your two groups we will give you the tour of the academy in those groups, which parents are encouraged to come along on, as there will be a presentation for the parents following afterwards about what your children will be learning in the academy, something you all will be told by your sensei once you are all settled in your classrooms.” He addressed the children at the end.

Roku Sensei then started calling out names, and Minato gripped Rua’s hand tighter as they waited for either of their names to be called. The man got to the M surnames and they both listened in suspense until he finished with the N surnames and neither of their names had been called out. They grinned at each other.

“Now that we have everyone, we can start on the tour. If everyone will follow me.”

“That means the rest of you should be in my group.” Tatsui Sensei smiled at them and Minato and Rua unanimously decided they liked this teacher. “I’ll call out the names. Once your name has been called come and stand over here.” He gestured to the side of himself where there weren’t any people standing. “If anyone isn’t on the list, we’ll sort that out by the end of the day.”

They waited for their names to be called.

“Murakami Rua.” Rua looked at him and nervously let go of his hand to make her way over to the other side.

As soon as their sensei had seen her respond to the name he called out the next one.

“Namikaze Minato.” Minato grinned and ran to grab Rua’s hand, pulling them faster to where the other students whose names had already been called were waiting.

Things progressed quickly after that. The tour wasn’t too long, and the children split from their parents fairly quickly, Minato and Rua not paying much attention, long used to not having parents, happy to be with one another rather than lamenting the fact they were orphans among many families.

Tatsui Sensei turned out to be nice as they had predicted. Unfortunately, he was also as strict as he was nice, which meant despite him treating them nicely, the students that talked over him quickly learned he had a glare that could freeze you in your seats.

By lunch time Minato and Rua were glad to get outside and run around. They weren’t used to being sat down for so long. At the orphanage the matron generally let them do whatever they wanted as long as they were there for mealtimes and back by dark. There was a park by orphanage they spent most of their time at and the matron had given Minato a watch and made them learn how to read it so they didn’t have the excuse of getting home late (she hadn’t given it to Rua because Minato was the more careful out of the two of them).

For the first couple of weeks they didn’t do much more than they had in their pre-school classes. Basic literacy and maths. Although after the first day Minato and Rua were happy to find there wasn’t as much sitting in classes as they’d first thought. Multiple times a week they spent a few hours in either the morning or the afternoon doing things like running and seeing how far they could jump and practicing throwing. Only with soft objects, but they had seen the older years practicing with actual throwing things.

They soon learned in the following weeks they were called kunai and shuriken, although they were only allowed to use wooden ones at their age to get a feel for the weapons.

Unfortunately, they did spend the rest of their time in the classroom and although they enjoyed learning (Minato more than Rua, she was more of the active sort), it forced them to extend their patience and ability to sit still and not get off task.

Which was hard, but a threat from their teacher of separating them if they didn’t pay attention helped focus them.

“Are you two siblings?” They were three weeks in, it was lunchtime and so far there had been surprisingly little confrontation between any of the students.

The tone of the question chaffed at both the small children slightly. Especially seeing as it was obvious they weren’t. Minato had spiky yellow-blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Rua had curly brown hair, purple eyes and brown skin.

“No.” Minato stared at the kid that had asked them, Rua beside him on the wall trying not to pull a face at the intruder.

“How come you’re always together then?” The girl next to the boy asked.

“Cus we’re friends.”

“Duh.” Rua tacked on to the end of his reply.

“You’re from the orphanage, aren’t you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Minato frowned at them and glanced at Rua who looked like she normally did when she wanted to hit someone. Brow furrowed and staring heatedly at the three children in front of them.

The one that had asked the question shrugged.

“Just asking. No need to get all offended.”

“We aren’t. There’s nothing wrong with being from the orphanage.” Rua glared at them from where she was still sat on the wall. They had just been eating their lunches.

“Exactly. Like Rua said. Now go away.” Minato stared at the person who seemed to be the main one.

It turned out they weren’t willing to start a fight themselves, so seeing as neither Rua nor Minato had risen to the bait, they turned to go and bother someone else.

“What dicks.”

“Ru-chan.” Minato gave her his best scandalised look. “You know Michi-basan told you not to use that word.”

“Shush Mina-chan,” Rua stuck her tongue out at him. “She’s the one that taught it to us in the first place.”

“Accidentally. She didn’t expect us to hear her.”

“I’m adding to my vo-vocabulalary?” Rua lost control of the last word, looking to him for help.

“Vocabulary.”

“You’re cleverer than me.” Rua pouted at him.

“No, I’m not.” He protested, his young voice squeaking.

“Yes, you are.” She paused to pout at him more before letting it go and laughing. “But that’s okay as long as you let me copy your answers.” She grinned cheekily at him.

“Of course I will.” He headbutted her lightly. She grabbed his head and ground their heads together.

“Ow! Stop it!” He giggled as she pulled away with her hair all stuck out above her dual ponytails. “Now you look stupid.”

“You always look stupid.”

“No I don’t!” He moved to whack her and the rice ball he’d managed to hold onto through the past two minutes went flying out his hand. “Ah! Catch it!”

Surprisingly, she did.

“Oh. I wasn’t expecting that.” They both blinked before Rua grinned.

“It’s my super-fast reflexes.” She then put the rice ball in her mouth.

“Hey! That was mine.” Minato did whack her this time, which dissolved into a small squabbling fight until Rua’s bento was almost knocked over and they called it a draw as long as she gave Minato some of her tamagoyaki. Which she did easily.

That wasn’t the last time anyone tried to bother them about their backgrounds. It happened two more times before the rest of the children realised it wouldn’t make them rise to the bait, so from that point onwards the others left them alone about it and moved on to easier targets.

They moved on in their studies and soon enough Rua wasn’t the only one thinking Minato was clever.

By their second year it was generally considered Minato was a genius and they were banned from sitting next to each other during tests.

Not that it stopped him from giving her the answers. On one notable occasion when they were seven Minato looked over to her during the exam and she was stabbing her pencil into the sheet with such frustration, Minato could tell she was close to tears. He’d asked for a second sheet, citing he’d run out of space and gone over the questions on his own. He’d imitated her handwriting and when it had come time to hand them in, he’d walked up at the same time as her, standing beside her in the line and passing her his second sheet to hand in.

Tatsui Sensei had handed their exams back with suspicion, staring pointedly at Minato for a long time but nothing had been said about it.

After that both the children decided to learn the other's handwriting, changing it as the other did until eventually they merged together until both children had almost identical writing, with Minato's being slightly taller than Rua's, but he could replicate hers with ease and she could do the same with his.

Her lack of academic achievement in comparison to him often made her frustrated, but she was so determined in achieving Minato always insisted it didn’t matter, it wasn’t like she was underperforming, she just wasn’t a technical genius, and she was one of the top in the class overall despite only being averagely high in a classroom alongside intensely intelligent children such as Minato and then the high-achieving clan children such as the Hyūga twins and the few Uchiha's in their class.

But like he’d told her, he was more than willing to give her the answers in class when she couldn't figure them out herself, it wasn't the end of the world if she didn't know how long the first shinobi war lasted, if she ever needed to know anything she couldn't remember herself then he could tell her, him giving her the answers was just a reflection of how they worked in real life so Minato didn't call it cheating.

As long as Minato could help his best friend then he would. That's just how they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said in the notes for the whole fic, the chapter titles show how old they are at the beginning of the chapter, most chapters they will be one age throughout, some will be at the same age across many chapters, and in this one they start at five and then envelop a broader range, spanning up to the age of seven.


	2. 8 - the new girl

It was interesting, but not excessively so to Rua when the new girl from a place they had never heard of before arrived.

It was when they were eight, and her curiosity was peaked upon seeing the girl had long, bright red hair and a violent attitude, it was something new and interesting. She wondered if she’d continue to be interesting or not. Rua could tell Minato was interested too. He was always interested in new things.

She predicted it when after the girl – who had been introduced as Uzumaki Kushina – proclaimed her desire to become the first female Hokage, Minato also declared his ambition to become the Hokage when he was older. It was something he’d wanted ever since they had first learned what the Hokage was, and when they learned about the individual Hokages, he specifically idolised the Nidaime Hokage: Senju Tobirama.

Mainly though, it didn’t affect her much, so when the new girl insulted Minato not long after that, Rua brushed her off. Not worth her time then. Rua’s attention was diverted back to what it had been before. They were eight now and that meant the academy was beginning to entrust them with actual weapons rather than the wooden practice ones they had been using up until this point; albeit not as sharp as the weapons actual shinobi used in fights.

She was slightly disappointed to see Minato’s interested hadn’t wavered, but like always, the moment Rua moved to get his attention they were back on track, excitement building between them as they both declared they would be better at using live weapons than the other.

Not surprisingly, there was hardly a difference between them. Minato might have been the genius, and academically he was far above her, but practically she had always been able to keep up with him easily. It came from spending their whole lives together. They did things very similarly and teaching the other how best to do things was as simple as showing them. So, if Rua understand how to better throw a shuriken, all she had to do was show Minato and maybe give him a simple prompt and soon they would be throwing it at the same level.

Together they worked on their aim and putting power behind their throws, making it a competition to see who could make the best throw.

* * *

Things carried on as they had been before after that. Minato and Rua worked practicing with kunai and shuriken into their everyday life (they’d ‘borrowed’ some of the old blunt ones from some of the classrooms – it was less obvious if they didn’t take them all from one place) when classes broke each day, now they were older they could go further than the park next to the orphanage and they could find places where throwing around partially dangerous metal objects wouldn’t obstruct other people.

This time they had found an empty, lightly forested area and were running around trying to be as quiet as possible, so the other person wouldn’t be able to find them, if they did they would throw shuriken at them. Part of the game was to throw it close enough for them to notice but not close enough to hurt them. They couldn’t stay hidden in one place for more than ten seconds, so they had to move.

Throwing shuriken without accidentally hitting your target was harder when the object was moving.

It was when they heard sounds of other people that they stopped.

“Let’s find somewhere else.” Rua slipped out from behind the tree she’d taken cover in, seeing Minato do the same across from her.

“They might go soon. They could just be passing through.” Still, Minato helped her pick up the objects they dropped.

“We could try and use one of those training grounds to practice using kunai in.” Rua suggested as she parted a bush to get to the shuriken she had thrown in it.

“Are we allowed to do that?” Minato was looking at her like he fully expected her to know the answer to his question.

“Well, Mina-” She was about to continue sarcastically when the sounds of the people nearby escalated.

“Do you think they’re fighting?”

Minato looked at her then back in the direction of the sounds.

“Should we look? Or go get someone.”

“Maybe they’re training too.” Then she heard a distinctive voice. “Isn’t that the new girl?”

It had been a couple of months since Uzumaki-san had arrived and, in that time, she had gotten into more fights (more appropriately brawls) than Rua had witnessed in her whole time at the academy. She had a very short temper and was easily riled, something that the main perpetrators in their class revelled in. Rua recognised them as some of the same kids that had tried to pick a fight with her and Minato a few times at the beginning of the academy before giving up.

Either way, it was easy to recognise her voice now, loud as it was.

Minato frowned and moved closer.

“What are you doing?” Rua moved after him. “Are we going to help?”

“No… I think we should let her deal with this on her own.” Minato whispered back, the both of them staying hidden as they peaked out at what was going on.

It was one of the kids from their class, one of the ones that had the habit of picking fights they couldn’t win. Rua doubted whether he would pass the genin exam. But this time it wasn’t just him, it was someone who seemed to be his older brother, probably a genin from his lack of chūnin vest combined with height, and him and Uzumaki were the ones fighting.

“Why is she letting him do that?” Rua and Uzumaki may not particularly have been friends, but Rua could admit she had talent, she’d obviously grown up as a shinobi and she had more than shown she could trump most of the people in their class, but here she was being dragged around by her hair.

Minato didn’t respond. Just frowned more.

“Long hair like that is kind of a weak point for a kunoichi. Maybe she’ll cut it off after this.” Rua suggested. Minato looked at her then. “What? I would.”

“I think it’s important to her. She could always dye it or cut it to stop people from pulling it, but she doesn’t, despite the fights she gets into over it. It probably reminds her of her family.” He whispered to her even as Uzumaki shouted how she hated her hair too.

“That… kinda makes sense.” Her hair was such a unique red, it was probably specific to her family – who she was apart from. Rua felt kind of bad for her now. “Where are you going?”

She hissed after Minato who had moved and was now climbing up a tree.

“I’m getting a better vantage point.” He gave her an expectant look.

“I’m not climbing up there with you Mina. Besides, now you are more likely to get spotted.”

She stubbornly stayed down on the ground. She could sense Minato rolling his eyes at her.

He was oddly interested in the Uzumaki girl still. Rua was starting to think he had a crush.

Which was weird.

The sound of fighting intensified and they both switched their focus back to the figures further forward.

Rua wasn’t surprised to see Uzumaki was winning.

What also did not surprise her was when the fight dispersed, the other two quickly retreating and Uzumaki-san turned around, spotting Minato in the process. Rua wondered whether he’d even attempted to hide himself.

What she didn’t expect was for the other girl to blow up at Minato. She ran off before giving Minato a chance to respond.

When Minato didn’t come down from the tree immediately, she climbed up to him.

“Mina-chan?” He turned to give her an awkward looking smile. She huffed. “Well… that escalated. Why ’d’you have to get involved huh?” She tugged at his hand, motioning for him to follow her to the ground.

“I didn’t. I was staying out the way.” Rua turned to look at him when they were both on the ground again, and true to her suspicions…

“You’re pouting Mina-chan.”

“No, I’m not.” Yes, he was.

“Okay Mina-chan, okay.” Michi-basan liked to say she was theatrical when she did that.

“Hey! Don’t be mean Ru-chan.” Minato shoved her across by leaning his weight into her and pushing to the side, catching himself without falling over, but making her trip over a root and stumble.

He snickered.

She glared playfully and shoved him back, letting him move the conversation from Uzumaki-san.


	3. 10 - genin teams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where the actual story starts as they are now genin, from this point on the time skips will decrease.

Her hand clasped Minato’s under their desk as the teacher read out the team assignments.

Both ten-year olds were wearing their new haite-ate’s on their foreheads and hoping more than anything they would be put on a team together.

“Team 4: Ikeda Masahiro, Uchiha Mikoto, and Uzumaki Kushina.” That was odd as most teams didn’t have two girls, but it didn’t matter much to Rua. It wasn’t her team. Nor was it Minato’s.

“Team 6: Hyuuga Hiashi, Okajima Yuuki, and Tokuda Kana.” They were skipping team 5 apparently.

“Team 7: Hyuuga Hizashi, Namikaze Minato,” Both of them tensed and held their breaths. Tatsui Sensei flicked his gaze up to the pair of them. “and Murakami Rua.” They looked at each other in glee, grins at wide as they would go as they tried not to interrupt their sensei too loudly.

“We’re together.” Rua couldn’t contain her happiness. Zoning out the rest of the team assignments now her and Minato were placed on the same team. They’d never been separated before and they were afraid the team assignments would be the time they were split apart. But they weren’t.

Minato nodded at her.

“And Hizashi, who is the nicer one.” He whispered to her. Both of them turned to look over at where the two brothers were sat. Hizashi could be told apart from his brother by the haite-ate (previously a cloth) he wore over his forehead, his brother wearing his on his arm. He was quieter than Hiashi, and also less arrogant from what Rua knew of him. Or rather, he lacked certain characteristics that made Hiashi so unapproachable. Neither of them really socialised much with their classmates though.

Not that Rua and Minato were really ones to preach about that. Seeing as the only people they really interacted with on more than a basic level was one another and the orphanage matron Michi-basan (though they had just gotten their own apartment now they were genin, so it would be just them). Mainly one another. But not because they had anything against other people. They were nice to others, just didn’t get too close.

Hiashi was looking straight ahead at the front of the classroom, not bothering to turn and investigate the students that would be on his team. Probably out of annoyance they were both civilian born, or just the fact he didn’t care. Hizashi was similarly positioned as his brother, and Rua was just beginning to think he wouldn’t be that much better interactively than his brother when he covertly turned his head to look at them.

Immediately Minato and Rua responded by smiling and waving at him. He looked bemused and unsure of what to do with them looking straight at him but nodded at them before turning back to face the front of the room again.

Not so bad then.

“Awesome. He acknowledged us.” Minato whispered to her. She high-fived him under the table.

“We are looking good.”

“Now if everyone will listen up.” Everyone that had turned to talk to their friends turned back to the front. “I am now going to read out your team sensei.”

“Team 4: Fujiwara Taiki.”

“Team 6: Matsuo Yori.”

“Team 7: Jiraiya.” Just Jiraiya? No last name? Minato and Rua shared a look. What was that about?

“Team 9-” Rua didn’t bother remembering the rest of the teacher’s names, they went in one ear and out the other.

“Your senseis will come and meet you here starting from nine.” It was ten to nine now. “So, wait for them to come collect you, don’t go wandering off. If anyone has any questions, I will be here until eleven if I’m not in this classroom.” Tatsui Sensei smiled at them all, a look of pride on his face. “I’m sure you’ll all give this everything you have. Good luck, you can talk amongst yourselves now until your sensei arrives.”

The classroom surprisingly didn’t burst into chatter, the atmosphere tense with anticipation, but small murmurings broke out.

“Should we go get Hizashi-san or wait for our sensei to come?” Rua swung her legs lightly as she leaned slightly over Minato as her eyes trailed over the room.

He rested his chin on her shoulder and hummed.

“Well, no-one else is moving into teams so we’ll wait.”

“Kay.” Then, “I’m hungry.”

Minato grinned, his face right next to hers where it was resting on her shoulder.

“I don’t have any food.”

“Why?”

“Why don’t _you_ have any food?” He pitched his voice ridiculously high and she headbutted him with the side of her head.

“I thought you were the responsible one out of the two of us.”

“It’s a common mistake, I understand your failing.” He turned his voice low and grave and she went grab his head to rub their heads together, but he dodged, deflecting her hands away.

“How dare you.” She slumped further so she was lying on him. They had only gotten their kunai and shuriken pouches recently, which she was reminded of when they dug into the side of her ribs and obstructed where she placed her head.

“I know.” Minato absently patted her head whilst grinning down at her. She pouted.

“Are you sure you don’t have any food?”

“Ah… wait, I’ll just check for you.” He went to grab his hood and pulled it over his head and down over his face. “Nope. Nothing here.”

“I hate you.”

“It’s a burden I just have to bear.” He hung his head dejectedly.

She tickled his side and he jerked to the left, grabbing her hands and pushing them away from him. They both started squealing although for different reasons. Minato because he didn’t want her to tickle him again and Rua because he was pushing her towards the ground.

“Sto-o-op!” She pushed her legs to the back of the seating to stop herself from being pushed off.

“Promise you won’t tickle me again.” Minato kept pushing her.

“I promise. I promise.” He pulled her back up and she sat up, flicking him on the ear.

“Ow.”

Rua realised they’d managed to gather attention with their squealing and poked Minato in the stomach.

“Hey, you promised!” He held his arms out ready to stop her again.

“No, you doof.” She leaned in closer to him. “Look around.”

“Oops.” He smiled bashfully at her. “But it’s your fault.”

“No, it’s not.” She crinkled her face in disagreement.

The teachers started coming then and they sat up properly, so they’d be ready when their Sensei arrived. They didn’t know what kind of person he’d be. Whether he’d be strict and severe or not.

It was when team 6’s Sensei came to collect his group that the two moved. They moved to sit next to Hizashi. Minato taking the desk and Rua the seat, so they were on Hizashi’s left.

“Hey Hizashi-san. Me and Minato were thinking, do you know why our Sensei doesn’t have a last name? Because everyone else’s sensei did, but ours didn’t.”

Hizashi looked at them both, seemingly gathering his thoughts before replying.

“I cannot be sure, but the only Jiraiya I’ve heard of without a family name would be Jiraiya of the Sannin.”

Minato and Rua looked at each other. They had never heard of anyone of that name. They both looked back to Hizashi with expectant expressions and he seemed to realise they wanted him to carry on, and after a moment he complied.

“I believe we were informed about the ongoing conflict in Amegakure by the academy?” They nodded. “Well, my information is that when Konoha sent shinobi to assist in the fighting, there were three shinobi, the students of the Sandaime Hokage, who fought and earned the title of the Legendary Sannin. That he is the only Jiraiya whom I have heard of that is referred to without a family name is the reason I suggest he might be our Sensei. It is possible it will be someone else entirely despite my assumptions.”

Damn, he spoke in one of the most sophisticated ways Rua had ever heard a fellow ten-year-old speak. She nodded to show she was acknowledging Hizashi’s words. She saw Minato doing the same from where he was sat on the desk.

“It would be a weird coincidence that our Sensei was also only referred to by his given name though.” She pointed out.

“That’s true, but if this Jiraiya of the Sannin is powerful enough to have gained a widely known reputation during the Amegakure war, then he probably wouldn’t be given a genin team to spend his time teaching rather than out fighting or on mission.” Minato was scratching his head and thinking.

“As that might be, whilst Konoha is part of the fighting, they have not openly declared themselves part of the war, therefore, not all shinobi are required to take part in the fighting as would be required in war times and there are more respite periods for the shinobi. So, it could be possible our Sensei even if not Jiraiya of the Sannin, could still be an active shinobi, especially seeing as all senseis must be jōnin level, meaning they are most likely to be sent out to fight, but also that some of them must return to the village to aid the next generation’s progression.”

Damn. Hizashi was clever. Or just informed.

“You know a lot.”

Hizashi just nodded. She couldn’t quite tell whether that was because he was embarrassed, just thinking, or because her comment was kind of stating the obvious and didn’t require a response.

“Many of my clan members have been sent out to fight, and I like to know what is happening seeing as being genin in times that threaten widespread war, there is a chance we will face the growing conflict ourselves.” Well it wasn’t because he didn’t think it required a response.

Rua thought about what Hizashi had said. She knew with her and Minato growing up in the orphanage it meant shinobi-wise they got most of their information from the academy, and they tried not to go to in-depth with what was happening outside the village. Why, Rua didn’t know. Hizashi was right in that it would likely affect them if it carried on. It just meant Minato and Rua’s knowledge was that much more limited. Rua hadn’t really realised that until this point. She wondered if Minato had. Probably.

Before either her or Minato could reply though, another of jōnin sensei entered the room, turning heads.

He was tall, strongly built with long white hair and red lines under his eyes going down his cheeks. Rua noticed he carried a large scroll on his back and unlike many male jōnin-level shinobi (kunoichi had the habit of often not wearing the standard uniform) he wasn’t wearing the standard flak jacket uniform.

“Team 7: come forward and meet your esteemed Sensei: Jiraiya, the great toad sage and author extraordinaire! This way.” His eyes swept the classroom but settled on them. Rua got the feeling he knew who he was looking for. Then he walked out the classroom, motioning dramatically for them to follow behind him.

Well, that settled who their Sensei was.

Wait. No, it didn’t.

Her and Minato met each other’s eyes, and both used that as a signal to start moving. No point in waiting.

Rua climbed up on the desk and they both jumped down to the front of the classroom.

Before they walked out the door though, Minato peered out to see where their Sensei had come whilst Rua turned to wait for Hizashi who had taken the steps.

She smiled at him just as Minato let out a confused sound.

“What is it?” She asked him as Hizashi joined.

“He’s completely gone. I don’t know which direction he went.” Minato turned back to the two of them. “Do you think this is a test?”

“Maybe?” Rua didn’t know what else it would be. “How do we find him?”

“I can use my Byakugan to locate him.” Hizashi contributed and both turned to him.

He stepped around them and out into the corridor. Rua and Minato followed him.

As the door swung shut behind them Hizashi was already going through a short series of seals before suddenly the veins around his eyes bulged and as Rua focused more on his eyes she saw the pupils she had previously thought he didn’t have had become more visible.

“He’s on the roof.” Hizashi deactivated his eyes. Rua mentally catalogued what she’d seen as the Hyūga Byakugan. The three genin responded accordingly and started on their way to the roof.

“Hizashi-san, if you don’t mind me asking,” Rua was not at all surprised Minato had questions. “I knew your clan’s eyes give you enhanced vision, but exactly how does that work?” Okay, she had wanted to ask that too. Minato shot her a look like he knew she had.

“The Byakugan allows me to see things with a near 360 field of vision, penetrating through walls and solid objects within a certain radius. Which is how I was able to locate our Sensei on the roof.”

He seemed fine telling them that so Rua assumed that meant it was common knowledge and not a clan secret. She didn’t know a lot about clans, just that they were all secretive about their abilities and the like.

“That’s got to be useful on missions.” Minato’s mind seemed to be instantly thinking of all the ways that would give Hyūgas the advantage as shinobi. “Especially stealth missions. You could see when someone is near, any traps, and you could locate what your purpose for being the would be easily.”

“Hyūgas are often put on tracking missions too, but they have a highly advanced taijutsu style that means they are capable of excelling in hand-to-hand combat as well. Not to mention they can detect genjutsu with their Byakugan.” They all swung around as a voice sounded behind them.

Behind them stood their Sensei, arms crossed and watching their reactions.

“Where are you all going then?” He asked, ignoring their expressions.

“The…” Rua looked at her teammates before finishing. “roof?”

“Ah, what a good idea. You know, when I was a genin, we had our first team meeting on the academy roof. It must be your internal team seven sense telling you to go to the roof.” He started walking and they were forced to also turn around and start walking again to avoid being stepped on.

They all looked equally confused.

“Uh… it was Hizashi-san’s Byakugan actually. Aren’t you supposed to be on the roof?” Rua twisted her head round to look at her Sensei in confusion.

“Am I?” He asked her.

“Yes.” Hizashi responded before she could. She had thought his enunciation rather controlled before, now it was just dead-pan.

“Well in that case,” Then he was gone again, leaving a whirl of leaves behind.

“What?”

“The fuck?”

“Ru-chan?” Minato gave her a pointed look.

“Ugh, Minato. Our Sensei just disappeared!”

“That's not an excuse.”

“I think he’s gone to the roof.” Hizashi cut over their bickering.

They all shared looks, and then started running towards the roof. Each wanting to see what was going on.

The burst through the door to see their Sensei lying back on the side of the roof.

“You three took your time, didn’t you?”

“No!”

“I’m going to assume you’re the loud one.” He pointed at her and she stared back at him.

“Who says there has to be a loud one?” Minato sounded too philosophical for a ten-year-old.

“There’s always a loud one.”

“I bet you were the loud one on your team.” She walked over to him, the other two walking with her.

“Why do you say that like it’s an insult young lady?” He was suddenly all up in her face and she wobbled to maintain her balance.

“Cus you said it like it was an insult.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Er… Sensei?” Minato was scratching his head again. A bashful smile on his face as he diverted their Sensei’s attention.

“Yes?”

“See, you said yes.” Rua could not help it. The sense of trepidation she’d had for meeting their Sensei was long gone. This man was arguing with a ten-year-old.

“Don’t be smart with me.” He’d stepped back out her face when Minato had diverted his attention, but he stuck his finger in her face in response.

“What if I am smart?”

“I think we have different definitions of smart.” He pulled a face at her and she pulled one back.

Then he laughed.

“Okay, I like you guys. Take a seat.” He pointed to a solid raised block near where he had originally been. “We’ll do introductions.”

They did so, Minato in the middle.

“So, let’s start with name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that kind of thing.”

“Are you going to do an introduction too Sensei?” Minato was doing his ‘you-are-an-adult-and-I-am-a-benevolent-polite-child’ routine. To be fair that was his normal attitude with anyone that wasn’t Rua. But she knew better.

“Ah yes, my name as I said before, Jiraiya, toad sage of Mount Myōboku,”

“You didn’t say that before.” Rua pointed out.

“Well I’m saying it now.” He death stared her. She smiled at him. He pointed at her again. “You are a brat. Don’t bother with introductions. I can already tell your ambitions for the future is to make my life a living hell.”

“Awe Sensei, don’t be like that.” Beside her Minato was stifling a laugh and when she glanced at him Hizashi looked like he didn’t know what to do in this situation and would rather it had gone differently.

Jiraiya Sensei stared at her, she stared back and after a few seconds he seemed to come to the conclusion she was done because he continued.

“Right, well as the gaki pointed out, I will be doing a more _in depth_ introduction of myself. Where was I?” He cut his hand across his throat as she made to reply. “That was rhetorical. Don’t tell me.”

She smirked at him.

“It’s like you don’t even want to know about me.” She shrugged. “That hurts. Well I’ll continue for the sake of the nice one.” He pointed at Minato. She rolled her eyes.

“Author extraordinaire, you all are too young to know about my likes, or my hobbies for that matter, just know I’m a naturally appreciative person, I dislike rude gakis,” he stared pointedly at Rua “and my dream is to build a world that doesn’t consist of constant fighting.”

Rua’s immediate reaction was to point out that seeing as they were shinobi wasn’t that contradictory, but she stopped herself before the words formed. That changed her view of her Sensei, as she thought about it, it was the first thing he’d said about himself that wasn’t merely superficial.

“No response to that gaki?”

She stuck her tongue out. He laughed.

“Okay. You go now.” He pointed at Hizashi.

“My name is Hyūga Hizashi, I like improving my skill and I dislike the placing of one life over another, my hobbies are training and my dream for the future is…” Hizashi trailed off and they all turned to look at him. “To become a formidable shinobi.”

Rua had the feeling he’d said that instead of something else. But neither of the other two commented on his pause so she didn’t either. It was his business.

“Thank you Hizashi-kun. Next is blondie in the middle.”

“My name is Namikaze Minato,” It occurred to her everyone should already know this part at least, the genin would know from spending the past five years in the same class as their teammates and she assumed their Sensei had been given files on them. That would make sense seeing as Jiraiya had seemed to recognise them. “I enjoy training with Rua-chan, and swimming,” Rua grinned, that was an inside joke, and training was just Minato trying to sound like they didn’t spend the majority of their ‘training’ playing tag and hide and seek. “I dislike giving up, my hobbies are cooking, running and reading, my dream for the future is to reach my goal of becoming Hokage.”

“Interesting. I don’t know whether I want to know why this one started grinning like an idiot when you said swimming was one of your hobbies,” Jiraiya Sensei pointed at her and both children included looked at each other and stifled a laugh. “but against my better judgement, we now turn to you.”

Rua straightened. She took a breath and started.

“As always, saving the best till last.” Jiraiya Sensei looked like he was about to hang her over the side of the building if she carried on, so she didn’t push it. “Murakami Rua, I like spending time with Mina-chan, which is good because we live together, and if I didn’t it would be very unfortunate.” She turned to grin at him and he shook his at her. “I dislike swimming,” Minato tried to hold in his giggle but failed and slapped a hand over his mouth, pink dusting his cheeks. She grinned harder. “My hobbies are training with Mina and I like cooking new things and running too. I also like painting but don’t get to do it much. My dream for the future is to always try and improve myself and never settle at good enough. And I’m gonna help Mina-chan become Hokage.” She leaned to the side and used both her arms to encompass Minato.

“Well Minato-kun, it looks like you have your Hokage’s assistant already. Very good all of you. Now, despite what you’ve been told…” He paused for emphasis, waiting for all of them to lean forward in anticipation. “You are not actually genin yet.”

There was no massive explosion of indignation, but Rua pulled her best ‘are-you-playing-with-me’ face, Minato was cocking his head, a small frown in his face and Hizashi was also frowning.

“Yep. Well, you all have to pass my standards first. Come with me.” Then he leapt over the side of the building.

All three genin stood up and peered over the side in shock. Jiraiya Sensei was stood at the bottom completely fine. They hadn’t been taught to do _that_ in the academy. They’d been taught how to fall and land correctly, but not from this height.

“Hurry up then.” He yelled up at them.

“Will you catch us?” Rua yelled back down.

Their Sensei blinked at her before shrugging.

“Sure.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah. If you can’t be bothered to take the stairs I will catch you. It’ll be quicker anyway.”

Rua looked at Minato, who seemed to be waiting for her verdict. She took that to mean he would jump if she did and therefore that he trusted their Sensei to catch them, which meant she could trust him too.

So, she stood up on the edge of the roof and them jumped down to their Sensei.

He caught her easily and set her down at his side. Minato was quick to follow and then they were all staring up at Hizashi.

“Think of it as our first team-building exercise.” Rua called up. Hizashi looked at her before sighing and stepping up onto the edge. He looked down before looking up and sighing again. Then jumping.

Their Sensei (was he technically their Sensei yet it they weren’t technically genin yet?) caught him too.

“Well, I can’t decide whether I’m flattered with your ability to trust I would catch you or disturbed.” He aimed it mostly at Rua who had jumped first.

“I was right though.” She told him, and he rolled his eyes.

“Well if we’re doing this the quick way, all of you come here.” He motioned for them to step closer to him and suddenly he grabbed them all and pulled them up in his arms.

They all grabbed on so as not to fall and then Jiraiya did something with his hands (a seal?) and suddenly they were flying, moving extremely fast, their feet not touching the ground.

They stopped and Jiraiya let them all go so they flopped onto the ground.

For a few moments they all lay there trying to get their bearings.

“That was weird, and I didn’t like it.” Rua voiced on behalf of all of them as they all got back to their feet. Minato and Hizashi on either side of her.

“Ah, that’s just because you weren’t in control of it. Now, here is your test.” He held out two bells. “You have until this timer goes off in two hours’ time” He pointed to a clock timer on a wooden stump. “to get these bells from me. Whoever gets a bell passes.”

They all frowned.

“That doesn’t make sense.” Minato muttered before speaking louder, “Sensei, do you have another bell hidden?”

“I do not. Just the two you see here, and whoever gets a bell, passes.” He watched them. “Begin now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is being split into two because it's getting increasingly long and also I'm having trouble writing the actual bell test, but this bit is here and done.


	4. 10 - bell test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team seven bell test

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of line breaks (a.k.a scene cuts) because I'm really terrible at writing fight scenes and it gets incessantly boring otherwise.  
> Also, it's short, but that's because this was supposed to be in the last chapter but I couldn't figure out how to write it.

**“Begin now.”**

And then they all disappeared. It was a tactic they were taught in the academy, when faced with an unplanned enemy, try and gain distance or hide, allowing you time to come up with a plan, or an escape route.

Didn’t look like the escape route option would help them currently.

“There are only two bells.” Rua and Minato had retreated to the denser forested part, they were watching their Sensei stood in the middle of the clearing, waiting for them. Hizashi had disappeared in a different direction. “Does that mean only two of us can pass?” Like Minato had said earlier, that didn’t make sense.

“I don’t think so.” Minato motioned for her to come closer, hiding them further from view behind the tree they’d taken refuge behind. “Genin teams always come in teams of three. Maybe we’re expecting to find a loophole and work around it.”

“How would we do that?” Not to mention, they had to actually get the bells in the first place. If none of them got the bells, then none of them would pass.

“I’m still thinking about that, but we have a better chance of getting them if we all work together.”

“Let’s go find Hizashi-san then. And hope he is receptive.”

* * *

“Have you figured out what the loophole is?” Hizashi was looking at them with raised eyebrows.

It had taken them a while to find him and Jiraiya Sensei had seemingly lain down in the middle of the clearing out of sheer boredom.

Rua looked at Minato. She hadn’t figured it out, but he might have.

“I’m not sure, but Sensei didn’t say you had to keep the bell once you got it, so if one of us gets the bells, but then passes them to the other two, technically everyone gets a bell.”

Hizashi seemed to contemplate it.

“It does seem the only logical way we can all get a bell.”

“So, you’ll work with us?” Rua asked hopefully.

Hizashi nodded.

“What’s the plan?”

* * *

Rua was positioned behind their sensei, Hizashi on his other side as they both attacked. Rua used a kunai to slash at the backs of his legs, Hizashi using his clan’s taijutsu style to go for his torso and arms.

Jiraiya Sensei side-stepped their attack, but they had expected that and moved with him, both trying to keep him busy.

Rua them substituted herself with a nearby log, just in time for their sensei to kick out at her, sending the log careening backwards, and making their sensei turn to look. Hizashi took advantage of his distraction to hit him in the sternum, which the man hastily dodged, wincing as the blow connected, though not with the same ferocity it would with full impact, at the same time several shuriken came flying out the tree at their sensei who had stumbled backwards in his haste. Right into the line of the shuriken, which he dodged unperturbed, ducking and rolling out of the line of fire.

As Jiraiya Sensei dodged the shuriken, Hizashi went to land another series of hits. Rua and Minato ran out of the trees as Jiraiya sent Hizashi flying backwards.

Hizashi got up quickly and then all three of them ran at him, Minato and Rua using a propelling lift for Minato to jump upwards and cling onto their sensei’s arm before he could send them flying backwards.

Hizashi grabbed onto his other arm but Jiraiya sent him flying into Rua, the momentum causing him to let go as she moved her kunai out of the way, so it wouldn’t stab him as they crashed together, Hizashi’s Byakugan deactivating as he hit the floor hard.

Minato grabbed the bells as he rolled off, moving backwards, he opened his palm with the two bells in them, Rua and Hizashi moving towards him once they got back to their feet.

“We got the bells Sensei.” Minato held them out to him.

“Do you now?” The bells disappeared. All three of them looked at Minato’s now empty hand.

“Genjutsu.” Hizashi devised.

“Yep.” Their sensei grinned at them. He rattled the bells that were yet again still in his hand. “What are you going to do now?”

All three genin were breathing heavily, sharing covert looks as their first plan had failed.

Rua and Minato jumped to the sides. Hizashi once again activated his eyes, reforming his stance. He was the only one that had any major advantage in taijutsu. They were stuck with the more predictable academy style.

But they could make it work.

Minato travelled around the back of Jiraiya, Rua to his left. The man in question jumped back and pivoted so he was facing all three of them.

Only to step in the range of an exploding tag. Smoke burst from the zone with the sound of the explosion.

He leapt back again, but they had choreographed that, moving around the explosion zone to circle him again, using the trees around them as leverage to throw themselves at him from different heights, Jiraiya having to stretch to deflect them all.

Only to find two out of the three were clones and his strikes went right through them, leaving him open to attack as he stretched out. Hizashi took the opening, striking at him where he’d stretched to throw back one of the clones before retreating just as quickly, having learned from staying in Jiraiya’s reach that it would only get him thrown back.

Then he had a barrage of them coming at him, so fast he didn’t bother to figure out which ones were clones, striking out at all of them before they could touch the bells.

“Good, but you’re all going to have to do better to get these bells.” Jiraiya suddenly leapt up, somersaulting out of their range. “I would give you an introduction into ninjutsu seeing as that seems where you are all lacking, but Hizashi-kun here has closed many of my tenketsu points.”

Hizashi smirked. They had planned that.

“Fortunately for your education, that’s only the ones in my arms, don’t you worry I’ll just have to give you a more unorthodox introduction.” Jiraiya grinned.

* * *

It took Jiraiya risking getting decapitated, then getting torn into with a wire threaded with shuriken after not being careful enough, and Hizashi pointedly targeting the tenketsu points in his feet and calves every time he kicked out at them, combined with the genin getting thrown around - into trees, high in the air, and dragged into and through the dirt - singed with fire, and dropped in bodies of water until they managed to get the bells before the timer went off.

It was very close.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect any of you to get the bells. I know some senseis that would allow you to obtain the bells after you showed a certain amount of aptitude in the skills they were testing you in. I, however, fully intended not to do that.” Then he grinned at them. “But now you have the bells, who is going to have them, and who is going back to the academy?”

“Surely, if you were just testing our skills, then doesn’t it mean you weren’t going to send us back to the academy, so do we really need the bells?” Minato held up the bells with his question.

“Good question. And originally yes, but now I’m testing you to see how you respond to this situation. You have both the bells Minato; now who are you going to give the other one to? Rua-chan? That means Hizashi-kun goes back to the academy.”

“Actually Sensei, I was thinking over what you said, and whilst you said we needed to get the bells, you never said we had to keep them, so since I got the bells, I’ve passed, and,” he handed a bell to each of his teammates “now Hizashi and Rua have both obtained a bell, therefore they both pass too.”

They all grinned up at him and Jiraiya stared at them, before throwing his head back and laughing, full hands-on-hips bellow.

He finally stopped and wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes.

“Okay, you got me, I was going to pass you all anyway because you displayed the correct teamwork, but I suppose you earned it yourselves.” He clapped his hands together. “You are now officially genin, welcome to team seven.” He ruffled Hizashi and Rua’s heads on either side of Minato, before ruffling his hair too.

The three genin looked at each other, all three smiling at their accomplishment.

“We’re gonna be so awesome!” Rua held out a hand to both Minato and Hizashi to high-five. Minato did so first, Hizashi followed with a polite refinement.

Rua turned to Jiraiya. He laughed again and high-fived her too.

“You’re really something kid.”

After that Jiraiya gave them instructions of where and when they were to meet for team training the following day, before letting them all go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additionally, I know the genin's deduction of how to get a bell is a common one used by a few authors, but thinking about it, it is the clearest way to work around the rules of the bell test and still pass, which is why I used it and also that I couldn't think of another way around it, I'm sure someone more innovative could.  
> As a side note, though Jiraiya wasn't intending to give them the bells, they by no way overpowered him, he had just lowered his level of fighting, not raising it much above chunin level attacks tbh because they were still genin/pre-genin at this point, desperately lacking in some areas that would make them more well-rounded. They managed to get the bells because he didn't raise his level of fighting, if he had they would not have gotten the bells. I hope that is understandable.


	5. 10 - first blood

It was their third C-rank mission, four months into becoming genin, they had mastered tree walking and could each stand and walk along surfaces of water to varying degrees of success, all of them capable of doing so for short periods of time, each progressively failing if they attempted to stay on the surface for extended amounts of time. They had gone through speed, stamina and strength training, and when they had asked Jiraiya Sensei had told them he would start training them in more advanced shinobi skills once they’d gotten more field experience and shown themselves capable of utilising their basic shinobi skills without having to rely on ninjutsu or genjutsu. Which was harder than it sounded because their Sensei got called out of the villages sometimes for weeks.

The mission was to escort a small-town leader who had come to Konoha to discuss business back to their home two days walk away.

They were a few hours in, Jiraiya Sensei at the back with the client and the three of them spread out over the front, but close enough that they were talking comfortably when it happened.

Four figures obstructed their path. Rua caught Hizashi’s eyes activating from where he’d had them relaxed due to the perceived length of the mission and the fact the road they were on, although framed by trees on either side, was wide. Minato tensed up on Hizashi’s other side, cutting his eyes to her.

“Konoha shinobi. What a pleasant surprise.” The shorter of the two adults spoke. A distorted grin stretching his face into a mockery of smile. On either side the two younger ones (they looked similar, probably brothers) looked eager.

“You seem very confident in yourselves.” Jiraiya Sensei was surprisingly relaxed for the situation. It was a stark contrast to their client – Tezuka Koto – who looked terrified and like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Well, I think the odds are in our favour.” It was true. There was four of the opposition against the four of them who had to protect their client, and from appearance Rua would guess the older two were likely missing-nin jōnin and the other two were seemingly low-mid chūnin, against one high-level jōnin and three fresh genin.

It seemed they weren’t in the mood to talk for long, because then the taller one stepped forward and made a signal that obviously meant proceed.

The ones Rua had pegged as more advanced rushed towards them, though Jiraiya was fast, and was in front of them and deflecting their attacks, whilst at the same time barking orders at them.

“Get back and protect Tezuka-san. These are missing-nin.”

The three of them rushed back, Hizashi assuming his clan stance, and Rua and Minato each ready with a kunai as the next two came at them.

“I’ve got the clan kid.” The one on the left said. Hizashi responded by turning to face that one.

“Minato-kun, Rua-chan, I’d suggest moving Tezuka-san back.” Hizashi subtly gestured to the tree line. Signalling there were no other hidden shinobi waiting to ambush them there and to direct their client out of the fight.

They were doing so, Minato focusing on meeting the approaching boy whilst Rua moved Tezuka back.

Luckily, Minato was quick and ducked under the arm holding the kunai aimed at his neck. Meeting Rua’s eyes, Minato rolled to the side, meaning his opponent moved to face him, leaving his back exposed to Rua. The shinobi jumped back slightly after Minato caught the hand holding the kunai, making him drop it. He went to form hand seals, but Minato stopped him before he could complete them.

Checking to make sure the other three were occupied Rua saw Hizashi doing something similar with the other one, and Jiraiya Sensei was keeping the other two occupied. Focusing on her speed Rua ran and leapt onto the guy’s back.

Minato grabbed the guy’s fallen kunai so he had two, and as his opponent attempted to twist around at the sound of Rua’s feet, he dug them into his forearms, pulling his weight down, making the guy scream out and stumble just as Rua landed on his back, his arms disabled, meant he could only flail as she tore the kunai into his throat as hard and fast as she could, cutting his scream short before rolling forward as Minato swept the nin’s feet out so he fell backwards.

Landing beside Minato, they both looked at the fallen man, holding onto their blood-soaked kunai, then turning their attention to the other fights going on. Jiraiya had already downed the shorter man, but the taller one was putting up a fight.

Hizashi was getting hits on the one he was fighting, but the guy was stronger, and managed to send Hizashi backwards, turning his head to check on his brother, the same way Rua would with Minato if she heard a scream, making sure he was holding his own. The boy froze in shock as he looked at his fallen brother partially obscured behind Minato and Rua.

“Rua, get back.” Minato grabbed her wrist and pulled them both backwards. Racing away from the now shaking male, who let out a scream and flew at them.

“Go wide, then jump, like with the tree.” Minato’s blue eyes were wide as he squeezed Rua’s wrist hard before letting go. “On three, go high.”

His plan clicked in her mind, and she veered to the left, counting in her head (one) as she kept both the furious figure and Minato in her eye sight, he was veering more towards Minato, hands forming signs furiously. Minato dropped the kunai he was holding (two) and dug something else out his side pouch, before throwing it to her. The moment she caught it she pushed upwards towards the nearest tree (three), the wire Minato had thrown her extending out and pulling taught as they each held an end, before jumping off the trees, aiming to meet behind the enemy-nin who had frozen in horror when realising his chakra wasn’t responding to him. Minato went low, flying beneath her as she went high.

The wire successfully wrapped around the shinobi’s neck, and the momentum of Minato and Rua’s combined weights pulling taught on the ends of the wire sliced through the his neck. Decapitating him.

Once they both landed, they stared at the fallen ninja, the wire in their hands cutting into their fingers. It was quiet. Jiraiya Sensei had finished the other man off, and they’d downed the last one.

“Well,” Jiraiya broke the silence. “At least now we know you can hold your own. Good teamwork everyone.”

They didn’t speak much more after that. Hizashi retrieving Tezuka-san in an attempt to calm the shocked man with a sense of professionalism. Minato and Rua just stood to the side of the road as their sensei cleared up the bodies.

Then they carried on their way. Jiraiya and Hizashi at the back with Tezuka-san and Minato and Rua at the front. They hadn’t let go of each other’s hands after they’d rolled up the wire in the aftermath of the attack, holding it between both their hands. Blood stained both of them, and Tezuka-san seemed to be freaking out slightly at their synchronised humming, but Jiraiya let them continue despite it.

They stopped at a lake before their stop off point for the night. Jiraiya told Minato and Rua to go wash off in the river whilst he and Hizashi talked to Tezuka-san about the next part of the journey.

Crouching at the soft riverside, Minato and Rua washed the wire first, before placing it back in Minato’s pouch.

“Sorry your hands are all cut.” Minato took her hands in his and examined them carefully, not caring much about getting wet as he moved from a crouching position to kneel next to the running water. Rua copied him, her knees digging into the soft material of the river bank. She was almost afraid it would give way.

“It’s okay. Better a few cuts than dead, right? And you have them too.” She reversed their grip to look at his own hands. “We’ll ask sensei for some disinfectant and bandages. I don’t know if we need to stitch them up or not.”

“We’ll look like zombies.” Minato snickered. She joined in.

“Well, at least we’ll look like zombies together.” She reassured him.

“Exactly. Together.” He smiled that big smile at her and she gave him an answering one.

“Cus that’s how we work best.” She headbutted him affectionately and he responded by gripping her in a hug.

Then the riverbank gave way and they went tumbling in.

Once they resurfaced, clumsily making their way along the riverbank to climb back out a more stable point they were both soaked to the bone.

“This is on you.” Rua accused her best friend, wringing out her skirt.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Minato had pulled his hoodie off to wring it, the white material still had blood stains on it even after going in the river, and Rua watched as the cuts on Minato’s hands bloodied it further. “Damn it.”

“Yeah, white was so not a good fashion choice Mina-chan.”

“I look good in white though.” He pouted at her until she agreed.

“Well, I reckon we are sufficiently washed now. We should probably get back to Sensei.” Rua stepped towards where the rest of their group was, hearing as well as feeling her shoes squelch, she felt twice as heavy all waterlogged.

Minato snickered beside her, moving so their sides were pressed up to each other, sharing their body warmth.

* * *

“I turn around for five minutes and this is what happens.” Was Jiraiya Sensei’s reaction.

“ _We washed_.” They spoke in unison.

“I can’t deal with you two.” Their sensei gave a put-upon sigh, hand going up to smack his forehead. “It’s a good thing we’re going to an inn tonight rather than sleeping out, or I guarantee you two would be returning with colds.”

The atmosphere lightened up more after that, Jiraiya shaking his head as he started wrapping Minato’s hands, Hizashi offering to do Rua’s. Something she noticed he was already good at. It was something she knew she still wasn’t the best at.

“Hizashi-kun?” Hizashi only glanced up at her to signify he was aware of her impending question, and was waiting for her to vocalise it (they had become familiar with each other’s mannerisms a few weeks into training – by which time they had sufficiently bonded over dreadful training exercises and even worse D-ranks – so Rua knew it wasn’t out of disinterest or anything similar). “How come you know how to wrap injuries so well? I know we learnt how to do so in the academy, but it wasn’t something we were given much practice in as far as I remember.”

Hizashi was quiet for a little while as he continued wrapping her hands.

“That is correct, I am familiar with the practice from practice within my clan. Many of my clansmen gain injuries on their hands from chakra burns, so the majority of us are more than competent in doing so.”

Rua made a comprehending sound.

“That makes sense, thanks for doing this by the way.” She held up her bandaged hands. They were surprisingly not immobile despite the cloths that surrounded them. “I still need to learn to use that ninja wire without injuring myself in the process.”

Hizashi nodded but seemed slightly withdrawn.

“That is understandable, although you are proficient enough using it I am sure you will find a way to do so.” He gave her a reserved smile. One of his polite ones.

Rua smiled back, making sure to hide her uncertainty at his changed tone.

“Speaking of which, all of you, what do you think could have been done, or could be done in the future to stop this from happening?” Their sensei drew their attention to him, looking at them expectantly.

“Could we channel chakra to our hands, like with tree walking and water walking, so that our grip doesn’t fail, but also so the wire doesn’t cut through our skin?” Minato had that contemplative look on his face.

“Absolutely correct Minato-kun.” Jiraiya looked proud at his student’s quick deduction. “It’s something shinobi that use ninja wire as a main tool learn quite quickly, and if you two plan on using it for more than traps, it would be a good thing for you to learn how to do, though it will require you spend more time refining your chakra control.”

They all nodded to show they understood.

The atmosphere was different for the rest of the journey. Not as uncomfortable as it had been after the attack, but far less easy then it had been at the beginning. Hizashi stayed quiet, not contributing to the conversation, and Jiraiya was mainly the only one conversing with the client. Minato and Rua were both quiet again.

It was a relief when they all stopped and were assigned rooms at the inn. The three genin were in one room, Jiraiya and Tezuka-san in another.

The room had two bunk beds. Minato and Rua took one. Hizashi the other.

There was an odd tension in the room. Nobody spoke the whole night.

* * *

When they awoke it was to Jiraiya happily slamming the door to their room open.

“We locked that.” Rua pointed out once the initial panicked alertness died down. She saw Hizashi doing the same across from her. He caught her glance and rolled his eyes at their sensei as he shifted to get out the bed.

She supposed that meant they wouldn’t be permitted to go back to sleep then.

Minato dropped down from the bunk above her, not bothering to use the ladder. He gave a small yawn and looked around scratching at the back of him head.

“When do we leave Sensei?” He at least didn’t seem to mind the rude awakening.

“We will leave at eight thirty. No need to hang around. So get ready, we meet downstairs in twenty minutes.” He gave them a jovial wave and left.

Soon enough they were back on the road, getting closer and closer to their destination.

When it finally became to dropping off Tezuka-san, he was polite and friendly, but his gaze lingered hesitantly on Rua and Minato as they said their farewells.

The pace was faster on their return. They didn’t take as many breaks. Travelling through the trees when they could. Occasionally dropping back down to walk at a slower pace for a short reprieve.

“Jiraiya Sensei?”

It was on one of their slower reprieve lengths that she spoke up. Her legs were starting to ache after the constant travelling, but this wasn’t their first C-rank so she could ignore it easily enough.

“Yes, Rua-chan?” Jiraiya tilted his head to acknowledge her question.

“Tezuka-san was uncomfortable with me and Minato killing those missing-nin. But he hired shinobi himself to protect him on his journey. Surely that’s nonsensical of him? Why hire shinobi if he’s uncomfortable with killing? Or was it more that he didn’t have an alternate choice? Are a lot of clients like that?”

Jiraiya hummed, looking serious as he contemplated her question.

“It’s probably because we’re children he was uncomfortable with it.” Minato smiled lightly at her. “He didn’t alter how he interacted with Jiraiya-sensei so much.”

“I get that. But doesn’t it make sense that he wouldn’t react so strongly to it. We are shinobi despite our age, it makes sense that the client that hires us would at least be able to acknowledge that, taking into account it’s widely known what shinobi do and it would be logical to know at least the basics about the way shinobi operate if you’re considering employing them.”

“It’s easier in theory for civilians to know what shinobi are capable of, and even then, they mostly deal with elder shinobi. Chūnin are often given escort duty, and though they can often be young, most chūnin are generally past the stage where they resemble children more than young adults. You three however,” Hizashi tensed at Jiraiya's words. Rua caught it. “are very childlike both in appearance and mannerisms. Children are generally synonymous with innocence and vulnerability. Logically, Tezuka-san was aware you are shinobi, but prior to that point, he had not been given evidence of it and so it was a shock to him how easily you dealt with a situation that would leave him dead.”

“I understand that, I just thought that it was slightly irrational how freaked out he was.” Rua shrugged.

“To you it was, to him, less so.” Jiraiya gave her an answering shrug. “Right, well, I think we can get back into the trees now. Speed this up.”

“Hai.” They jumped their way back into the trees and increased their pace.

* * *

They were back in Konoha by nightfall. They parted ways after reporting to the missions station. Jiraiya stayed behind to talk to the Hokage, reminding them to pick up report sheets to fill in.

Hizashi said goodbye to them quietly and left to the Hyūga  compound.

The two of them were left to make their way home in the dark. The streets were quiet, some bars still open, mostly the shinobi ones.

“Did you notice Hizashi...?” Rua linked her pinky finger through her best friends, feeling him curl his own tightly round hers.

“Hm.” Giving the affirmative noise Minato nodded at her question. “I was thinking about what could have happened to trigger the switch, and I think I know.”

Rua squeezed his finger lightly, prompting him to elaborate. She had her suspicions too.

“That shinobi who engaged Hizashi said he was going for ‘the clan kid’.” Rua nodded. She remembered. “It’s the clan kids, the Hyūga clan especially amongst those that have the largest reputation and therefore the most expectations on them. We’re just civilian kids, neither of those missing-nin took us seriously, and that’s why we beat them so easily, if we’d been clan kids, it likely would have meant they’d be more wary of us and wouldn’t have charged in so lightly.

“But we’re not and so it was us that killed both of them. Hizashi, despite managing to disable that shinobi on his own - meaning he couldn’t use ninjutsu against us - didn’t finish either of them, and I think that affected him because he likely has high expectations. Both of himself and put on him by his clan, and in his eyes, we did what he didn’t.”

Rua didn’t speak immediately. It all made sense with what they knew of Hizashi. He was friends with them and knew they were capable, but they’ve never been in a situation that tested them like that before. That they achieved what he hadn’t managed to had obviously shocked him.

“We should talk to him.” It could be bad for their team if they ignored it, and even further, she didn’t want to lose a friend.

“We will.” Minato promised her.

Resolve set, they continued on their way.


End file.
